Networking technologies provide a fast, efficient and cost effective means to exchange information from practically anywhere in the world. For example, a Wide Area Network (WAN) can be employed to interface a client residing in one continent with a client and/or server residing in another continent. In many instances, the interaction can include a user employing a web browser from a client to access a web site residing on a web server via the Internet. Typically, the web browser provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to present information to the user. In addition, the interface provides the user with a means to input information, or interact with the web application.
Web based interaction is commonly exploited by corporations, medical facilities, businesses, the government, industry, and educational facilities to simplifier and enhance everyday tasks such as correspondence (e.g., via email, instant messaging and chat rooms), documentation, problem solving, mathematical computation, scheduling, planning, and information gathering, for example. Commonly, personal and confidential information is transmitted. For example, a consumer purchasing items over the Internet may be required to provide a credit card number, a name, and an address to a web application through a web interface. In another example, medical records that include information such as medical diagnoses, social security number and mental capacity, for example, can be conveyed over the Internet. For example, a physician employing a web client from home can view a patient's record and/or associated images (e.g., computed tomography (CT) images) via accessing the hospital's information repository through the a web site residing on the hospital's web server.
Information conveyed over a network is susceptible to interception (e.g., eavesdropping) and tampering if the information is transmitted in an unsecure (e.g., unencrypted) manner. For example, confidential information such as credit card numbers, bank account numbers and social security numbers transmitted over an unsecure channel can be viewed and/or copied by malicious parties intending to commit criminal activity and fraud. For example, a malicious party can intercept a credit card number, and then employ the credit card number to unlawfully purchase goods. The credit card holder then incurs the burden of canceling the credit card, securing credit with another credit card company, protecting their credit history, and seeking relief for the illegal purchases. A consumer experiencing the foregoing can be inclined to avoid employing web-based means when engaging in subsequent purchases. Even the potential for the foregoing can prejudice a user from purchasing and communicating via the web.
In response to security concerns and the increased reliance on web technology in the exchange of information over, research, development and implementation efforts have ensued to provide web security mechanisms. For example, authenticating technologies such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption have been developed, and are typically employed and associated with web site to determine whether a website is valid (e.g., trusted). Such technologies can verify a web site via ensuring the website is associated with a valid (e.g., signed) web site certificate. Generally, the web site certificate can provide web site identification such as the web site's publisher, and can be employed to match a web site publisher with the certificate. When a match is successful, the web client is typically provided access to the web site. However, when a match is unsuccessful, the web client is commonly provided with a notification indicating that the web site is untrusted.
Currently, publishing a web site on the Internet and employing SSL encryption can comprise several manual steps that can be time consuming and expensive. For example, configuring a web site to employ SSL encryption typically includes purchasing a certificate from a third party or generating a self-signed certificate, manually installing and manually configuring the certificate on the web server, manually installing and manually configuring the certificate on the web client, and manually trusting the certificate on the web clients local to the server domain.